Period 8 Abstracts

ABSTRACT FORMAT. Dr. Gepner. Type your abstract in this exact format, including a title in bold caps, your name in upper and lower case bold, and a paragraph summarizing the key points of your report. Do not use the first person. The paragraph should be at least ¼ of a page in length and no longer than ½ page. It must be typewritten single-spaced. When your abstract is completed and in the correct format, copy and paste it in the space below, leaving one return between your abstract and the one before.

Abstracts:

CHEMISTRY OF ADDICTION. Philip Macaluso. Addiction is a disease that plagues millions of Americans every year. It can come in many forms, some medically recognized, some not, but the effects of each are all the same on the addict. The discovery of dopamine (as well as serotonin, and lesser recognized endorphins) and the mesolimbic pathway have given researchers much insight into why the addict can become addicted in the first place. Most commonly addicts also try to hide their addictions. Rearranging schedules, sneaking off, etc, can all be warning signs of a newly formed addiction. When addicts go untreated for a period of time, it becomes difficult to stop it. Most cannot quit once addicted, even if they wanted to. This is because of the downward spiral of pleasure that can get to the point where the addict will need his addiction just to feel normal, in addition to the withdrawal addicts feel immediately after they quit. All these factors together likely predict that addiction will be a recurring issue in years to come. Keywords: Dopamine, Serotonin, Mesolimbic system, pleasure model (spiral), withdrawal

ANESTHETICS. Nate Causey. Anesthetics are drugs used to block pain and put patient into a reversible state of unconsciousness to help facilitate surgery. These various types of anesthetics fall into the categories of general, regional and local anesthetics which all cater to specific procedural instances. These anesthetics can be administered in gas or intravenous form depending on the variety. Anesthetics work in multiple ways by relaxing muscles, impeding memory, rendering unconsciousness as well as blocking pain receptors. By hindering the transfer of chemicals called neurotransmitters, the anesthetics effectively block messages of pain from reaching the brain. With the creation of anesthesia, many surgeries that were not possible before have been made so.

THE HAZARDS OF ART MATERIALS. Hannah Gilbertson. For hundreds of years, paint has been one of the most popular and prevalent mediums for artists to paint with. It also happens to be one of the more hazardous, containing pigments like cadmium and lead, which can cause severe and permanent damage to one’s body. Similarly, most thinners and solvents, liquids used to clean paint brushes and restore paintings, also contain harmful chemicals like acetone, and are able to dramatically decrease one’s health and wellbeing eternally. Paint and solvents are not only used by artists though, they have widespread purposes and are used by many different people. Painter or not, these substances have very hazardous properties and negative effects on humans. While there is no real cure for diseases or sicknesses caused by these substances such as lead poisoning, improvements have been made. Painters are switching from harmful oil paints to acrylic, and health-conscious developments have been made for paints, solvents and thinners.Key Words: Oil and Acrylic Paint, Thinners and Solvents, Cadmium, Lead, Acetone, lead poisoning.

OPIOIDS & OPIATES. Hayley Bemel. Opiates are an illegal drug that originates from opium poppy and are a narcotic sedative that demoralizes the activity of the central nervous system. Examples of Opiates are drugs such as morphine and codeine. Opoids are more general and act very similarly to opiates but unlike opiates, opioids are not actually produced from opium poppies. Opioids and opiates are known as opiate analgesic drugs that are used to control a person’s pain. However, opiates such as morphine and codeine are known to have psychological effects on its users and works within the central nervous unlike regular analgesics, which include common medicines such as Tylenol and Advil that only alter a person’s pain. Opiates and Opioids cause neurons to release more amounts of dopamine. Once excess dopamine is released, it can lead to addiction. Opiates also imitate the same molecular structure as the set of natural neurotransmitters in a person’s brain and copy the brain’s own morphine which is known as endorphins which also leads to addiction. Keywords: Opioids; Opiates; Morphine; Codeine; Central Nervous System; Poppies; Analgesics; Dopamine; Endorphins; Addiction.

COAL GASIFICATION. Katie Engelking. For hundreds of years we have unlocked the valuable energy stored in coal by burning it. Unfortunately, burning coal also unlocks the undesirable components of coal, including Sulfur dioxide, oxides of nitrogen, mercury, fine particulates and carbon dioxide. These compounds lead to such environmental crises as acid rain, smog, mercury poisoning, asthma and global warming. Coal gasification promises a solution to obtaining energy from the vast coal resources positioned throughout the country without releasing these harmful substances into the environment. By super heating coal in a high-pressure, oxygen rich environment, all the compounds of coal are gasified and the mixture, called syngas, can be cleaned up to extract the harmful components. The clean syngas, consisting mostly of Hydrogen, can then be used as the building blocks for a number of products: Chemicals, liquid fuels and the generation of electricity. Nearly 50-percent of the nation’s electricity is produced from coal, and the U.S is estimated to have a 1000 year supply of this inexpensive resource. If the process of coal gasification can be perfected and captured CO2 can be safely and permanently stored, coal could supply the majority of energy needs at very reasonable prices for centuries to come.Keywords: Coal Gasification, Coal, Hydrogen, energy, Carbon Dioxide, electricity, heat, gas, environment.

CARDIOVASCULAR DRUGS~ STRUCTURES, USES & EFFECTS. Elena Miller Strokes occur when blood overwhelms or does not adequately supply an area of the body. Cardiovascular drubs are used during surgical procedures, such as carotid endarterectomy, aneurysm clipping, coiling, surgical AVM removal, and angioplasty, to repair damaged veins or arteries. The medicinal aids: aspirin, ticlopidine, warfarin (coumadin), and herapin act to prevent blood clots and bursts. Their chemical structures create medicinal aids. Preventing hemorrhagic and ischemic strokes just means adjusting lifestyle because these anticoagulants can only act in an “ideally healthy” medical situation. Causes for strokes rely on healthy activity, dieting, as well as controlling high blood pressure (hypertension). Successful stroke rehabilitation depends upon the therapy and usage of cardiovascular drugs, as well overall support from a caring community.Key Words: anticoagulants, tiplopidine, aspirin, herapin, warfarin (coumadin), hemorrhages, ischemic stroks, TIA, carotid endarterectomy, angioplasty

THE USES OF RADIATION. John Gast. Radioactive materials have nuclei with more energy than they need. Therefore part of the nucleus breaks away spontaneously and releases energy in the form of radiation in a process called radioactive decay. This process continues until the nucleus is stable. The uses of radiation cover a wide range of fields from medicine to manufacturing and are more profuse than it may seem. In medicine radiation can be used to diagnose problems in areas like the thyroid gland, in archaeology and geology it can be used to find the age of once-living ancient materials with isotopes like carbon 14, in astronomy radiation can be used to find information about distant stars, in manufacturing it can be used in quality control to keep uniformity, and also radiation can even be used to create energy for commercial use. Radiation has many uses and it is quite significant to every day life.Key words: radiation, radioactivity, radiography, radiotracers, carbon dating, isotopes, x-rays, carbon 14, radioactive decay

CHEMICAL WEAPONS. Christiania Miller. Chemical weapons are developed to be used in warfare dating as far back as B.C. when the Spartans used sulfur gas in the Peloponnesian war. The weapons cause short-term and/or long-term damage to the human body. Chemical weapons are labeled under seven different categories; choking gases, vesicants, blood agents, nerve agents, incapacitants, harassing or riot-control agents and vomiting agents. Focusing on nerve agents, blood agents and vesicants, each type of chemical weapon inhibits a different body action. Blood agents such as Hydrogen Cyanide stop the process of cellular respiration by inhibiting cytochrome aa3 in the electron transport chain. Nerve agents, such as Sarin, stop the enzyme cholinesterase from being released, which stops a molecule from releasing Acetylcholine, which makes glands become overactive. Mustard gas is a vesicant, which inhibit the enzyme cholinesterase. Not all chemical weapons are lethal, but there is continuous debate about the morality of chemical weapons. Keywords: Enzymes, Nerve agents, Blood agents, Vesicants, Hydrogen Cyanide, Sarin, Mustard Gas

CHEMISTRY OF PHOTOGRAPHY. Michaela Kim. The Chemistry of Photography has a few different aspects to it. Photography started taking on its modern incarnation in the early 18th century after many important discoveries about silver halides and their reaction with light. Silver Halides such as silver chloride and silver bromide are the most important aspect of photography because they are the thing that reacts with light to hold the image. But there is also the gelatin which helps spread the silver halides evenly across the film, paper, or, as in the beginning of photography, glass. Beyond these two aspects, the development and processing of the film is the next most important thing because it directly affects the image you get from the film or paper. Processing film is heavily based on pH, temperature, and dilution of the chemicals to produce good negatives and good images.Key Words: silver halide crystals, silvers halides reaction with light, gelatin, processing film, silver chloride, silver bromide, silver iodide.

NUCLEAR PLANT CATASTROPHES. Sam Goldberger. The Accidents at the Chernobyl and Three Mile Island Nuclear facilities have forever shaped public opinion and uneasiness towards the Nuclear power industry. Chernobyl, which was the most severe Nuclear accident ever, has had lasting effects on the health of Europeans after the extensive release of radiation after the explosion of reactor four. The explosion was so bad that people are still not allowed within a 19 mile radius of the site, an area known as the Zone of Alienation. The accident at Three Mile Island was more of a “what if” scenario then a major catastrophe. A small leak of radiation did occur, but if a major one would have occurred like it did at Chernobyl, it could have been much worse. This scared Americans and the nuclear industry suffered because of it. Key Words: Chernobyl, Zone of Alienation, Three Mile Island, Radiation, Nuclear Industry.
WINEMAKING. Laura Barksdale. The chemistry of winemaking has been around for hundreds of years. The way generic wine is made is by crushing grapes and then fermenting them with yeast or in some rare cases sugar. The amount of yeast, temperature and length of the fermentation process all depend on the kind of grape and its acidity. After fermentation the wine is essentially finished, though many brewers take additional steps. To be sold the wine must be filtered to get rid of the excess sediment, as the public would not trust murky wine. In addition to these steps wine makers may do other things to make their wine better. They add things like sulfur to their wines to brighten the color and add body to the taste; they also store the wine in caskets made out of specially picked and sometimes burnt wood to give it a smoky flavor. Some special wines like Champagne and sauvignon have completely different steps in their creationKey Words: Wine, yeast, fermentation, acidity, sugar, filtration, Ph levels, alcohol

FIREWORKS Ana Salverda In history, gunpowder was invented/ discovered first, and then firecrackers, after that gunpowder propulsion and fireworks are a combination of the latter two. Now there are advances being made in fireworks to eliminate excess gunpowder from them and there are attempts to make them more ecofriendly. There are four basic requirements for a firework, an oxygen-producer, fuel, binder, and color producer. Oxygen producers are most commonly KNO3 in a special black powder, consisting of KNO3, charcoal and sulfur as well as any coloring one might add. KNO3 was later replaced with KClO3 and the more stable KClO4. The compounds that make the colors in the explosion can work two different ways, incandescence is light produced from heat or luminescence is light produced using energy sources other than heat.Keywords: fireworks, oxygen producers, compounds, gunpowder, incandescence, luminescence, color, heat

FORENSIC CHEMISTRY. Ben LehmanThe understanding and practice of chemistry is vital to forensics. Chemical tests for blood can help determine whether a crime has been committed. Fingerprinting chemicals aid police in finding suspects and following leads. Chemical identification of substances left at a crime scene tie suspects to the crime.Keywords: forensics, luminescence, trace,

HALLUCINOGENS. Ian Middlebrook. Hallucinogens are classified as drugs that alter the perception and reality of the person using them. Hallucinogens come in three main types: Phencyclidine (PCP), Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD), and Mescaline or Psilocybin. All of these different types come in different forms, but they all cause this altering of a person’s reality with the real world, and some have terrible effects. Hallucinogens have been used for the past two thousand years, typically in religious and ceremonial affairs with the ancient Aztec Indians. Hallucinogens activate receptors in the brain, known as 5-HT2A, that normally would be triggered by the neurotransmitter serotonin. Key Words: Neurotransmitter, Hallucinogens, Brain, Reality Altering.

PLASTIC EXPLOSIVES. Zach Nelson. The primary plastic explosive used by the military is C4. The reason it is commonly used is because of its versatility. The basic idea behind C4 is to combine high explosives with binders and plasticizers, making the explosive malleable. By doing this, the explosive can be altered to the users’ liking, changing the direction of the explosion. This is useful for breaching doors, or filling in cracks and in the military it will be used every day. The main explosive in C4 is called RDX (cyclotrimethylene Trinitramine) and it is roughly 1.5 times more explosive than TNT. When combined with a plasticizer (Di(2-ethylhexyl) sebacate) and a binder (polyisobutylene) it becomes C4. The plasticizer and the binder make the explosive less sensitive to fire, electrocution, and blunt force, making it nearly impossible to set off accidentally.